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STATES OF JERSEY
CI LOTTERY: ALLOCATION OF 2019 PROCEEDS (P.141/2020) – AMENDMENT (P.141/2020 Amd.) – COMMENTS
Presented to the States on 1st December 2020
by the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture
STATES GREFFE
2020 P.141 Amd.Com.
COMMENTS
The two proposed local delivery partners – the Association of Jersey Charities and the Jersey Community Foundation – each have experience in distributing grants to charities and good causes in the Island.
They have the governance procedures and infrastructure in place that are effective and working well. Financial support can be accessed by all registered charities and appropriate bodies, provided they can evidence there is a need in the community and that they will seek to address that gap.
The spirit of the lottery has always been to meet direct needs of islanders in the community and a mechanism already exists to enable organisations that focus on the environment to access funds through the Association of Jersey Charities if they can satisfy the criteria. In fact, the AJC already has a number of environmental and conservation members and has this year already provided funding for projects in that sector.
Deputy Guida's Amendment proposes that 20% of the Jersey Community Foundation allocation should be distributed to:
Applied science or applied research in the field of engineering, biology, ecology, physics, chemistry or mathematics provided that funds are either to be used locally or for the direct benefit of Jersey, including any education from which local residents may benefit.'
It is not clear in the amendment who the governing body would be for applied science or applied research in the fields of engineering, biology, ecology, physics, chemistry or mathematics in Jersey or who would monitor the research, ethics and outcomes.
Neither the Association of Jersey Charities or the Jersey Community Foundation feel that they have the expertise or skill set to be able to adjudicate applications in these complex, specialist areas (see Appendix). Therefore, both have stated that they would be reluctant to take on this role. It is an important consideration because accepting this Amendment would require the formation of a new distributing body with appropriate expertise. It is not clear how this would be constituted or how the costs of such an undertaking would be met.
As Deputy Guida points out in his Amendment, the UK national lottery is not used for funding scientific research: this is achieved through a range of other specialist grants and funding streams that do not extend to Jersey.
Deputy Guida correctly highlights the issue that the Island does not currently have a dedicated source of funding that can support Jersey-based organisations wishing to carry out research, even where it can be valuable to the Island's economy, security and wellbeing. This requires further investigation across the Government and might be considered through the Future Economy Programme, the Fiscal Stimulus Fund or the Environment Department.
The Channel Island Lottery is not the correct mechanism, particularly not at this time. Charities and good causes are under considerable financial pressure as a result of Covid and approval of this Amendment would create additional unexpected workload for the
distributing bodies, which are mostly volunteers, and a concomitant delay to distributing vital funds to the sector.
P.141 and the accompanying service level agreements propose a distribution mechanism that will be reviewed and can be amended if appropriate. This would be the appropriate time to receive an assessment of the potential demand for research grants within the island and the community benefit they will generate. This information is not provided in the Amendment or its accompanying Report.
To conclude, while sympathetic to the need for investment in scientific research, there is already adequate access to Channel Island Lottery funds for community-related environmental, conservation and educational projects. The Proposition does enable all appropriate organisations to apply for funding providing they can evidence need and positive impact on the community.
The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport & Culture does not support this Amendment.
Standing Order 37 Presentation of comment relating to a proposition
The comment was presented to the Greffier after noon on the preceding Thursday due to an administrative delay.
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P.141/2020 Amd.Com.
Appendix
The amendment highlights the funding available for Overseas Territories which supports a range of projects and research. For instance, the Darwin funding is a system of grants overseen by a specialist panel as composed as follows.
Name Organisation Professor EJ Milner-Gulland
Oxford University (Chair)
Dr Tom Clements Patricia Davis
Jo Elliott
Dr Abigail Entwistle Dr Geoffrey Hawtin Dr Frances Humber Dr Howard Nelson
Dr Dilys Roe
Dr Paul Smith
David Tickner
Dr Juliet Vickery
Dr Mark Watson
Dr Chris West
Ex-officio members:
Vicky Morgan
Professor Monique Simmonds Chris Lyal
Wildlife Conservation Society Independent
Fauna and Flora International (FFI) Fauna and Flora International (FFI) Independent
Independent
Fauna and Flora International (FFI)
International Institute for Environment and Development
Botanic Gardens Conservation International World Wildlife Fund
RSPB
Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh Independent
JNCC
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Natural History Museum